Eighth Circuit Addresses Second Degree Battery Conviction in Arkansas

In the context of a criminal sentencing hearing, the Eighth Circuit determined that a conviction for second degree battery in Arkansas may qualify as a crime of violence. The statute is divisible, but subsection (a)(4) - which requires intentionally or knowingly, without legal justification, causing physical injury to a law enforcement officer, a firefighter, a correctional facility employee, a school employee, an elderly person, a young child, a state officer or employee, a healthcare provider, or incompetent - meets the definition of a crime of violence. Given the similarity in the definition of a crime of violence in the sentencing context and a crime of violence in the immigration context, this ruling likely indicates the subsection at issue is a crime of violence for immigration purposes, too.